Smoke exhauster housing suitable for mounting at wall corner

ABSTRACT

A smoke exhauster comprises a housing with a back side which has a left wall contact surface and a right wall contact surface for making contact with two wall surfaces of a corner, thereby enabling the smoke exhauster to be mounted in the corner to exhaust the fumes and to facilitate the user to stand in front of the smoke exhauster to cook, without having to modify the kitchen furniture to coordinate with the smoke exhauster. The housing of the smoke exhauster is economical and capable of keeping the beauty and the function of kitchen.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates generally to a smoke exhauster, andmore particularly to a smoke exhauster housing suitable for mounting ata wall corner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The smoke exhauster is generally rectangular in shape and ismounted over a gas, electric, or induction range for removing thekitchen smoke such that the back of the smoke exhauster is fastened tothe kitchen wall. The smoke is apt to escape from the spaces located atthe left and the right sides between the range and the smoke exhauster.As a result, the interior designers make an effort to solve such aproblem as described above by mounting the smoke exhauster and thecooker at the wall corner of the kitchen, so as to prevent the escape ofthe cooking smoke by two wall surfaces of the wall corner. Theconventional gas stove is generally rectangular in shape. As shown inFIG. 1, the gas cooker and the smoke exhauster 91 are mounted at thekitchen corner such that their back sides and one of the left and theright sides are rested against the two wall surfaces which meet at rightangle. The kitchen sink 92 extends along the wall corner to have an Lshape. The user U must stand at the turning corner of the sink 92 to dothe cooking. In light of the cooker being located at an inner corner ofthe sink 92, the user U, the cooker, and the smoke exhauster are locatedin an aslant relationship, thereby resulting in a great deal ofinconvenience to the user for operating the control panel. In order toprovide a remedy, a design change is made by the interior designer suchthat the gas range and the smoke exhauster 93 are located slantingly atthe kitchen corner, as shown in FIG. 2. The back corners of the gasrange and the smoke exhauster 93 are rested against the two wallsurfaces which meet at right angle, thereby resulting in a triangularspace between the back sides of the gas range and the smoke exhausterand the walls. As a result, the kitchen sink and the overhead cabinetmust be widened. The modern kitchen sink and the modern overhead cabinetare of a modular design such that they have a fixed size. For example,the sink has a depth of 60 cm, whereas the overhead cabinet has a depthof 37 cm. In order to coordinate the design that the gas range and thesmoke exhauster are mounted slantingly at the kitchen corner, the depthof the sink and the depth of the cabinet must be increased at anadditional cost. In addition, the sink and the cabinet would take upadditional space in the kitchen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide asmoke exhauster with a housing which is designed to facilitate themounting of the smoke exhauster at a kitchen corner without compromisingthe smoke exhausting efficiency of the smoke exhauster, and without acoordinating effort to redesign the kitchen sink or overhead cabinet.

[0004] The smoker exhauster housing of the present invention is providedin the back side with a left wall contact surface and a right wallcontact surface. The smoker exhauster is mounted at a kitchen wallcorner such that the two wall contact surfaces of the back side of thehousing of the smoke exhauster are rested against the two wall surfacesof the kitchen corner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005]FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a prior art smoke exhauster whichis mounted at the corner of a kitchen.

[0006]FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a prior art smoke exhauster whichis mounted at the corner of a kitchen in another manner.

[0007]FIG. 3 shows an angle of elevation perspective view of a firstpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0008]FIG. 4 shows a top view of the first preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0009]FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of the first preferred embodiment ofthe present invention in use.

[0010]FIG. 6 shows a top side shematic view of the first preferredembodiment of the present invention in use.

[0011]FIG. 7 shows an angle of elevation perspective view of a secondpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0012]FIG. 8 shows a top view of the second preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0013]FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of the second preferred embodimentof the present invention in use.

[0014]FIG. 10 shows a top side schematic view of the second preferredembodiment of the present invention in use.

[0015]FIG. 11 shows a sectional view of the joining relationship of thesmoker exhauster of the second preferred embodiment of the presentinvention and an overhead cabinet.

[0016]FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of a third preferred embodimentof the present invention.

[0017]FIG. 13 shows a perspective view of a fourth preferred embodimentof the present invention.

[0018]FIG. 14 shows a perspective view of a fifth preferred embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a smoke exhauster housing 10 of thefirst preferred embodiment is provided in the interior with a bellowsand a smoke exhausting duct, which are not the subject matters of thepresent invention. The housing 10 has a sectoral profile, a left wallcontact surface 11, a right wall contact surface 12, an arcuate frontside 13, and a top 14. The left wall contact surface 11 and the rightwall contact surface 12 are rectangular in shape and are joined togetherat the rear longitudinal sides thereof at about 90 degrees. The twoopposite side edges of the front side 13 are joined with the outer sideedges of the left wall contact surface 11 and the right wall contactsurface 12. As a result, the wall contact surfaces 11 and 12 are joinedwith the front side 13 to form a cylindrical body. The front side 13 isprovided at the bottom of the front thereof with a switch 20 forcontrolling a motor mounted in the bellows and a lamp (not shown in thedrawings).

[0020] As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the housing 10 of a smoke exhauster 30is mounted in a kitchen comprising an L-shaped kitchen sink 42, a gasrange 44 located on the corner of the sink 42, two overhead cabinet sets46, and a space located over the range 44 for mounting the smokeexhauster 30 between the two overhead cabinet sets 46 such that the leftwall contact surface 11 and the right wall contact surface 12 of thehousing 10 are securely held to the two wall surfaces forming a rightangle, and that the front side 13 faces the kitchen center, and furtherthat the left and the right side are rested against the inner sides ofthe cabinet sets 46, and further that the upper and the lower end edgesare flush with the overhead cabinets 46.

[0021] The user stands at the corner of the sink 42 such that the userfaces the range 44 and the smoke exhauster 30. The cooking fumes areprevented by the walls from spreading throughout the kitchen or even toother rooms. The user can easily maneuver the switch 20. The housing 10is so shaped to fit into the corner without forming a triangular gap ofthe prior art. In addition, the front side of the exhauster 30 is notoverextended so as to coordinate with the existing sink and cabinets. Inshort, the housing 10 of the present invention is so designed to fitbeautifully with the kitchen corner without obstructing the arrangementof the cabinets.

[0022] As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a housing 50 of the second preferredembodiment of the present invention has a pentagonal profile, a leftwall contact surface 51, a right wall contact surface 52, a left side 53facing the left front, a right side 54 facing the right front, and afront side 55 facing the front. They are all rectangular surfaces, withthe longitudinal side edges of two adjoining surfaces being joinedtogether. They are joined with a pentagonal top 56 to form a pentagonalhousing such that a right angle is formed between the left wall contactsurface 51 and the right wall contact surface 52, and that a right angleis formed between the left side 53 and the left wall contact surface 51,and further that a right angle is formed between the right side 54 andthe right wall contact surface 52. The housing 50 is therefore fittedwell with the corner of right angle and the rectangular overheadcabinets. The foregoing angles can be modified to adapt to a specificcorner or cabinet design. The left side 53, the front side 55 and theright side 54 are provided in the bottom edge thereof with a protrudededge 57 extending along an edge. The protruded edge 57 is provided inthe underside with a switch 64 corresponding in location to the frontside 55.

[0023] As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the housing 50 of the smoke exhauster70 is disposed between the two cabinet sets 46′ such that the left wallcontact surface 51 and the right wall contact surface 52 are restedagainst the corner walls, and that the left side 53 and the right side54 are in contact with the inner sides of the cabinet sets 46′. Thesmoke exhauster 70 is secured to the right angle junction of the twocabinet sets' 46′ such that only the front side 55 of the housing 50 isexposed to face the user, and that the protruded edges 57 come incontact with the side edge of the undersides of the cabinet sets 46′, asshown in FIG. 11, so as to seal off the gap between the housing 50 andthe cabinet sets 46′.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 12, the planar front side 55 of the housing 50described above is changed to have an arcuate surface. The arcuate frontside 55′ of the housing 50′ is extended between the two cabinet sets toenhance the esthetic effect and to enlarge the volume of the housing.

[0025] The present invention is provided in the back side with a leftwall contact surface and a right wall contact surface, which come incontact with the corner walls. The front side of the housing is of anygeometric form. In addition, the left wall contact surface and the rightwall contact surface of the back side of the housing of the presentinvention are not directly connected, as shown in FIG. 13 in which ahousing 80 is shown to have a hexagonal profile, and a back side 81connected with a left wall contact surface 82 and a right wall contactsurface 83. The left wall contact surface 82 and the right wall contactsurface 83 are in contact with two walls of the corner such that atriangular space is formed at the innermost angle and is covered with acover plate. As shown in FIG. 14, a housing 85 is a hybrid of those ofFIGS. 7 and 13 and is provided with a pentagonal bottom and a hexagonaltop.

What is claimed is:
 1. A housing of a smoke exhauster for fastening witha wall; wherein said housing has a back side which is provided with aleft wall contact surface, a right wall contact surface, said housingbeing mounted at a corner such that said right wall contact surface andsaid left wall contact surface come in contact with two wall surfaces ofthe corner.
 2. The housing as defined in claim 1, wherein said housinghas a front side which is provided with a left side, a right side, and afront connected with said left side and said right side, said left sidebeing connected at the left rear edge with the left front edge of saidleft wall contact surface, said right side being connected at the rightrear edge with the right front edge of said right wall contact surface,said left side and said right side being rested against the sides of anoverhead cabinet which is fastened to the wall.
 3. The housing asdefined in claim 2, wherein said left wall contact surface and saidright wall contact surface are directly connected, said front beingplanar to enable said housing to have a pentagonal profile.
 4. Thehousing as defined in claim 2, wherein said front of said housing isplanar, said back side having a back surface connected between said leftwall contact surface and said right wall contact surface, said backsurface being planar to enable said housing to have a hexagonal profile.5. The housing as defined in claim 2, wherein said front side of saidhousing is an arcuate surface extending toward the front.
 6. The housingas defined in claim 2, wherein said left side and side right side ofsaid housing are provided in the bottom edge with a protruded edgeextending along the edge to join with the side edge of the underside ofthe overhead cabinet.
 7. The housing as defined in claim 1, wherein saidhousing has a front side which has an arcuate front side surfaceextending forward such that two opposite side edges thereof areconnected with the outer side edges of said left wall contact surfaceand said right wall contact surface to enable said housing to have asectoral profile.